"Nirvighna Maste, all of nine, and his father Pankaj, walk for over 100 km to support Indias most vulnerable "
In a world altered by COVID-19, the 2020 Oxfam Trailwalker India, a fundraising walkathon has gone virtual. Just last year, thousands of Oxfam trailwalkers had come together from all across India and around the world, to walk for better education, affordable and quality healthcare, gender equality, forest rights, and to end discrimination in the country's underserved states like Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
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The special challenge, this year, is to complete either 100 kms or 50 kms in 10 days, virtually! Thousands have already undertaken this challenge including Hindalco employee Pankaj Maste and his nine-year-old son Nirvighna. The plight of workers walking back home soon after lockdown was what motivated them to join the virtual Trailwalker. Pankaj says, "The sight of millions of migrant workers, making their way back to their native villages on foot was horrifying personally to me and my family. It just revealed the inequality we have all taken for granted and done nothing about."
He decided to do something and joined the virtual edition of Oxfam Trailwalker to help the most vulnerable get their lives back on track. And to also set himself a fitness challenge or two. Pankaj adds, "I am quite familiar with the excitement, the uphill struggle, fun, pain and happiness that are all a part of Oxfam Trailwalker's 100 km challenge. But more than anything else, I feel thankful to Oxfam India for organising such events to challenge us. That is why this time, I participated twice. I first completed 100km in just 36 hours and then in just 25 hours. I planned meticulously from one hour to another to finish the challenge as quickly as possible. There was a point of exhaustion between 80 to 90 kms when it was extremely tough to keep walking. But I never gave up. My son also got motivated when I managed to complete the challenge in one day and became the fastest trailwalker. He also went on to complete 100 km in just four days. What made it all even more worthwhile was the realisation that so many migrants were being helped by Oxfam this year."
Says Nirvighna, "I felt so happy and proud that my dad and I completed the challenge and I hope,my friends will also join the virtual Trailwalker. It is fun to do and helps others too."
The upcoming edition is going on and started from November 20 and ends on November 29. The funds generated will not only help Oxfam India continue the ongoing COVID-19 relief work, but also help run their #RightsOverProfits campaign. The campaign is demanding that the government regulate private healthcare to ensure rights of patients and strengthen the public healthcare system in India to make affordable and quality healthcare accessible to all.
About Oxfam India:
Oxfam India is a movement of people working to end discrimination and create a free and just society. We work to ensure that Adivasis, Dalits, Muslims, and women and girls have safe-violence free lives with freedom to speak their mind, equal opportunities to realise their rights, and a discrimination free future. We research to find lasting solutions to end rising inequalities and exclusion of marginalized communities from getting decent jobs, quality free education and healthcare. We campaign with the public to demand policy changes from governments for creating a just and inclusive country as envisioned in the Indian Constitution. We mobilise support to save, protect and rebuild lives of the poorest of the poor affected by crisis and humanitarian disasters.
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